It is not required from us only to perform the action (mere fasting and night prayer). In order to attain the promised reward from Allah i.e. forgiveness of past sins, as mentioned in the Hadeedth, our actions should be based upon the following:
➢ Belief (Eeman with Sincerity)
➢ Ihtisaab (Hoping the reward form Allah).
First Action: We need to purify our hearts from the sicknesses, so that the Eeman can enter into it. This purification is achievedby knowing Allah Ta'ala and learning about the sins of the heart, and focusing on our hearts. For example, Love of Dunya.
Love of Dunya: It is the head of every sin, which is shown by preferring your desire and worldly gain, or what your beloved ones (husband, children) like over what Allah Loves. Love of dunya affects a person in the following manners:
❖ It makes the person to Disobey Allah,
❖ It makes one not to be pleased with what Allah has decreed for him,
❖ Love of dunya makes the person to fight others for it, to envy others, to show arrogance, etc.
❖ It makes the person hypocrite, to do the action for the sake of his own interest, or for the sake of people and not for the sake of Allah. Therefore, Show-off is the main Character of hypocrite.
❖ It makes the person to believe that if Allah gives him of worldly enjoyment (pleasures), then he will be pleased with Allah; and if He afflicts him or give him contrary to what he likes, then he is displeased with Allah. He may apostate for the sake of his children, i.e. by being coward and not fighting for the sake of Allah (Majbanah), being stingy means while spending he thinks that his children deserves more of their wealth than anyone else (Mabkhalah), and these children only causes grief to their parents (Mahzanah).
Therefore, Let us check our hearts, then check how much are we pleased with Allah (pleased with the situation you are in, especially when you are in distress).
BEWARE: ALLAH TESTS OUR CLAIMS!
Don't just say "Alhamdulillah, I am pleased, I have no envy in my heart", because immediately you will be tested regarding your claim, either you are truthful or liar, believer or hypocrite. As Allah Says in Surah-al-'Ankaboot: (29:1-2)
"Do people think that they will be left alone because they say: "We believe," and will not be tested.
And We indeed tested those who were before them. And Allah will certainly make (it) known (the truth of) those who are true, and will certainly make (it) known (the falsehood of) those who are liars, (although Allah knows all that before putting them to test)."
So don't deceive yourselves nor deceive others!
Good Deeds yet Low Faith: If one finds that he is performing abundant good deeds but the heart is not purifying nor the eeman is increasing, this is like what Prophet Sallallahu 'alaihiwasallam resembled with, that his heart is like an inverted cup, no water can be remained in it, no matter how much righteous deeds are poured into it, the heart is neither filled nor there is there any affect on it. This is a state we should fear for our sickness.
How one can purify his heart from all the sicknesses?
✓ Knowing the reality of this worldly life
✓ Knowing about the Aakhirah
✓ Knowing about Allah Ta'ala whom we are going to meet.
It is out of Allah's Grace and Favors upon His slaves that He Subhana wa Ta'ala enjoined upon them seasons of obedience, which are the means of increasing faith, and the impact of this is shown in our hearts and lives being reformed. And one of the greatest seasons is the month of Ramadan.
Sincerity is required so that our acts of obedience are accepted by Allah Ta'ala. Knowing Allah Ta'ala by His Names, Attributes and Actions, helps us increase our level of sincerity.
MORE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT ALLAH: MORE BELIEF IN HIM, IN THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT, IN THE ARTICLES OF FAITH & HIGHER SINCERITY IN PERFROMING THE DEEDS!
For that reason, we should learn Ahadeeth regarding this blessed month, in order to increase our eeman, receive Ramadan with belief that help us observe fast in the way pleasing to Allah.
HADITH: 1
First Glad tiding: DEVILS ARE CHAINED
The Prophet Sallallahu 'alaihi wasallam said: "When the first night of the month of Ramadan (comes), the devils and the defiant Jinn are bound in chains;"
What does this require?
All this need is Belief, as this Hadeeth mentions about unseen matters that from the first night of Ramadan this will happen. Thus, we have to believe with CERTAINITY! The devils are bound in chain and cannot harm and cannot do what they were doing before Ramadan. So Allah's Help has come to you to purify yourself, to help you in the act of worship i.e. in this time, your greatest enemy is chained. Now what remains is the evil self, and devil humans are still there who makes a lot of mischief in Ramadan, therefore, beware of them.
Devils are the main source of distraction of our hearts in a way that before and other than Ramadan, they are spread everywhere. For instance, while entering into your house, they enter with you (unless you say "Bismillah"). Similarly, they eat with you if you did not say "Bismillah".
This show how strong relationship they have with us, and the level of disruption they cause in our hearts and thus actions is considerable, especially in Salat, reciting Qur'an, makes us to lose focus while doing the good deed; but when it comes to reading any message from mobile, we read it with concentration. This is because shaytaan is far away from you at that moment; but he is there with you in your Salat, Sujud, Ruku' and while reciting Qur'an, constantly trying to distract you and making you not to focus on your 'Ibadah.
Isti'aadhah: Unfortunately, many of us do not feel his great enmity, even when we seek refuge with Allah from him (Isti'aadhah). Saying "Aa-oodhu Billah" is so weak that it doesn't repel him enough. Our resort to Allah is very weak when shaytaan overpower us.
Therefore, we have to strengthen our belief in the enmity of shaytaan and free ourselves from this cold feeling towards him, in order to attain the true essence of Isti'aadhah (seeking refuge from him).
Allah Ta'ala has warned us against shaytaan in many verses. In Surah-al-Ibraheem, He clearly shows the enmity of shaytaan to sons of Adam, as he addresses them saying (14:22)
"And Shaitan (Satan) will say when the matter has been decided: "Verily, Allah promised you a promise of truth. And I too promised you, but I betrayed you. I had no authority over you except that I called you, so you responded to me. So blame me not, but blame yourselves. I cannot help you, nor can you help me. I deny your former act in associating me (Satan) as a partner with Allah (by obeying me in the life of the world). Verily, there is a painful torment for the Zalimun (polytheists and wrong-doers, etc.)."
This scene should be in our hearts with Yaqeen (Certainty), the assurance that this will happen. Shyataan will forsake those whom he used to whisper in their hearts (BELIEF IN HIS ENMITY!)
Hence, Shyataan (Our manifest enemy) is Unseen; his enmity should be clear to us by keeping in mind the open verses about it.
Second Glad tiding: GATES OF HELL ARE CLOSED & GATES OF HEAVEN ARE OPENED
"All the gates of Hell are closed and none of them remain open, and all the gates of Paradise are opened and none of them remain closed;"
What does this indicate?
Before the first night of Ramadan all the gates were open, but as soon as the first night appears of this Blessed month, all the gates of hell are closed. This is thus a golden opportunity of attaining the Mercy of Allah. Since the gates of danger are closed from you, you should take this full advantage by pushing yourself to do good deed which will lead you to Paradise.
Knowledge & Belief in Hell and Paradise: It means this requires from you to have belief in Hell, its description as Allah Ta'aladescribed in the Qur'an and the description of its dwellers. Along with the belief in Jannah, the state of its dwellers and the delight of Jannah, i.e. all the facts we read in Qur'an regarding these.
Since Hell and Paradise are Unseen to us, we do not think of its details; in order to have fear of Hell, and aspiration (desire) for Jannah and its delight. All what most of the people think of now days is their children, jobs, etc, which means hearts are pre-occupied with the concerns of Dunya.
o Instead of the hearts filled with hope in Allah's Rewards, greediness (covetousness) to Dunya has occupied the heart.
o Instead of fearing Hell, the hearts are afraid of their provision which Allah has already decreed for them before the creation of the heavens and earth.
Affair of True Believer: Jannah and Hell are always in front of his eyes, he is concerned about his status with Allah, and how to attain Paradise.
ABUNDANT KNOWLEDGE IS REQUIRED!
Detailed knowledge about Hell and Paradise (their food, drink, rivers, bed, clothes etc.) will motivate the person to avoid all what leads to Hell and to encourage him to do all what leads him to Paradise.
Third Part & Glad tiding: CALLER FROM HEAVEN & RELEASE OF SINNERS
"And every night a caller from heaven will announce, 'O Seeker of goodness and virtue! Come forward;' and 'O Evil doer! Desist (stop) and do not come forward;' and large number of sinners are released from Hell at the Command of Allah, and all this takes place on every night of Ramadan." [Sunan at- Tirmidhiand authenticated by al-Albaani; and graded it Hasan]
What does this indicate?
Human souls naturally possess love for good and hate for evil, and this is the reason why caller from heaven calls us according to our nature i.e. close to good and hate evil; which means, come forward with good that is in you and stop your evil.
Moreover, after knowing about Hell and Paradise in detail, the foremost thing that one should desire and hope for is attaining release from Hell-fire by Allah. So, every night my concern should be about this matter, 'Am I one of those whom Allah redeems from Hell-fire?' In this way we will succeed in taking actions according to our hopes.
Importance of Ihtisaab while performing deeds: Most of the times, we make schedules for ourselves in order to take certain number of good actions, without any feeling towards these deeds. For example, fixing time for reciting a part of Qur'an in morning, doing some other thing in maghrib, then taraweeh, sleep, and waking up at fajr etc. In this way our days pass during Ramadan without any Ihtisaab (Hoping the reward from Allah), and we assume that our deeds are accepted by Allah!
MAKING YOUR HEART ATTENTIVE WHILE PERFORMING DEEDS AND THE KEY TO ACCEPTANCE (OF THESE DEEDS) BY ALLAH IS: HOPING FOR ALLAH'S REWARD!
All the time we should be hoping that Allah accepts from us, make us among those whom He release that night, and among those who rejoice when we meet Allah on the Day of Resurrection; only with the help of Belief in our hearts that Allah is watching me in my fast and He knows about my hunger and thirst. So this feeling of hope and joy when breaking fast and hoping for great reward for his deed on the Day of Judgment means, that the HEREAFTER IS ALWAYS IN FRONT OF A BELIEVER'S EYE! And weak hope is the only reason why our time goes in vain, and wasted during Ramadan.
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